With the crisis associated with diminishing amounts of fossil fuel and the rapidly increasing prices for this fuel, there has been a great deal of interest in reducing the amount of fuel consumed by automobile engines, and the like.
Thus, there is a great need to find lubricants that reduce the overall friction in the engine, thus reducing the energy requirements thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,795,548 discloses the use of lubricating oils compositions containing borated alkyl catechol. The oil compositions are used in the crankcase of an internal combustion engine in order to reduce oxidation of the oil and corrosion of the metal parts of the engine.
There is a problem with the use of a borated alkyl catechol in lubricating oils since they are sensitive to moisture and hydrolyze readily. The hydrolysis leads to haze and/or precipitate formation which must be filtered out prior to use.
It has now been found that the borated alkyl catechols may be stabilized against hydrolysis in a lubricating oil by using the borated alkyl catechol in conjunction with an alkenyl succinimide.
Most importantly, it has now been found that lubricating the crankcase of an internal combustion engine with a lubricating oil containing a borated alkyl catechol reduces the fuel consumption of the engine.